Our Team

Chuck Melman

Chuck Melman is a lifelong outdoorsman and avid firearms collector. Chuck spent over 30 years in public accounting as a CPA and partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers before retiring in 2010. He subsequently co-founded a consulting firm providing financial and restructuring advice to businesses in financial distress.

An entrepreneur at heart, Chuck noted that prior to New London Arms, virtually no firearms dealers focused primarily on fine competition, hunting and collectible firearms. Chuck noted “. . . there were dealers with a few fine firearms but none with a strictly serving the needs of consumers in the premium firearms market”. Thus the New London Arms Company was born – a premium shooting sports retailer that continues to hold true to its roots of being a “Purveyor of Fine Firearms”. Chuck has hunted throughout most of North America for big game, plains game and upland birds and waterfowl. Chuck has a fondness for all types of bird hunting and enjoys fall outings with good friends, pointing dogs and a variety of birds to be hunted.

A partial list of shooting organizations supported include the NRA, National Shooting Sports Foundation, National Sporting Clays Association, the Ruffed Grouse Society, Grand National Waterfowl Association, Grand National Quail Foundation, Safari Club International, and Ducks Unlimited.

Chuck’s civic activities include serving on boards of various organizations including Greater Carolinas Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Fletcher School and the Wake Forest University Business School Board of Advisors. Chuck is a strong supporter of the military and Naval armed forces in particular and an active member of the Association of Naval Aviation and the Tailhook Association.

Stewart W. McDowell

Stewart McDowell was born and raised in Columbus, Ga., near the heart of quail country. When he was 12 years old, he bought his first gun for $40; a Winchester 290 .22 rifle. McDowell has had a lifelong interest in firearms and his hunting and fishing expeditions have taken him to many countries around the world and a number of locations in the United States. He has also competed in Sporting Clays competitions throughout the Southeastern United States.

McDowell has been a resident of Charlotte for almost 30 years and during his corporate career he also lived in Georgia, Illinois, and New Jersey. He retired in 2009 as the CEO of Wachovia Insurance Services. McDowell is a graduate of the University of Georgia and holds an MBA from New York University; he is a graduate of The Management Program at the Tuck School of Dartmouth College.

He became an owner/partner in NLA in 2014 and is enthusiastic about fine firearms and is an avid collector of vintage shotguns.